1710.06
Plans for public improvements or public services.

(A)
The board of directors of a special improvement
district may develop and adopt one or more written plans for public
improvements or public services that benefit all or any part of the district.
Each plan shall set forth the specific public improvements or public services
that are to be provided, identify the area in which they will be provided, and
specify the method of assessment to be used. Each plan for public improvements
or public services shall indicate the period of time the assessments are to be
levied for the improvements and services and, if public services are included
in the plan, the period of time the services are to remain in effect. Plans for
public improvements may include the planning, design, construction,
reconstruction, enlargement, or alteration of any public improvements and the
acquisition of land for the improvements. Plans for public improvements or
public services may also include, but are not limited to, provisions for the
following:

(1)
Creating and
operating the district and the nonprofit corporation under this chapter,
including hiring employees and professional services, contracting for
insurance, and purchasing or leasing office space and office equipment and
other requirements of the district;

(2)
Planning, designing, and implementing a public improvements or public services
plan, including hiring architectural, engineering, legal, appraisal, insurance,
consulting, energy auditing, and planning
services, and, for public services, managing, protecting, and maintaining
public and private facilities, including public improvements;

(4)
Paying damages resulting from the provision of public improvements or public
services and implementing the plans;

(5)
Paying the costs of issuing, paying interest on, and redeeming notes and bonds
issued for funding public improvements and public services plans;

(6)
Sale, lease, lease with an option to purchase, conveyance of other interests
in, or other contracts for the acquisition, construction, maintenance, repair,
furnishing, equipping, operation, or improvement of any special energy
improvement project by the special improvement district, between a
participating political subdivision and the special improvement district, and
between the special improvement district and any owner of real property in the
special improvement district on which a special energy improvement project has
been acquired, installed, equipped, or improved;
and

(7)
Aggregating
the renewable energy credits generated by one or more special energy
improvement projects within a special improvement district, upon the consent of
the owners of the credits and for the purpose of negotiating and completing the
sale of such credits.

(B)
Once the board of directors of the special improvement district adopts a plan,
it shall submit the plan to the legislative authority of each participating
political subdivision and the municipal executive of each municipal corporation
in which the district is located, if any. The legislative authorities and
municipal executives shall review the plan and, within sixty days after
receiving it, may submit their comments and recommendations about it to the
district. After reviewing these comments and recommendations, the board of
directors may amend the plan. It may then submit the plan, amended or
otherwise, in the form of a petition to members of the district whose property
may be assessed for the plan. Once the petition is signed by those members who
own at least sixty per cent of the front footage of property that is to be
assessed and that abuts upon a street, alley, public road, place, boulevard,
parkway, park entrance, easement, or other public improvement, or those members
who own at least seventy-five per cent of the area to be assessed for the
improvement or service, the petition may be submitted to each legislative
authority for approval. If the special improvement district was created for the
purpose of developing and implementing plans for special energy improvement
projects, the petition required under this division shall be signed by one
hundred per cent of the owners of the area of all real property located within
the area to be assessed for the special energy improvement project.

Each legislative authority
shall, by resolution, approve or reject the petition within sixty days after
receiving it. If the petition is approved by the legislative authority of each
participating political subdivision, the plan contained in the petition shall
be effective at the earliest date on which a nonemergency resolution of the
legislative authority with the latest effective date may become effective. A
plan may not be resubmitted to the legislative authorities and municipal
executives more than three times in any twelve-month period.

(C)
Each participating political subdivision shall levy, by special assessment upon
specially benefited property located within the district, the costs of any
public improvements or public services plan contained in a petition approved by
the participating political subdivisions under this section or division (F) of
section 1710.02 of the Revised Code. The
levy shall be made in accordance with the procedures set forth in Chapter 727.
of the Revised Code, except that:

(1)
The
assessment for each improvements or services plan may be levied by any one or
any combination of the methods of assessment listed in section
727.01 of the Revised Code,
provided that the assessment is uniformly applied.

(2)
For
the purpose of levying an assessment, the board of directors may combine one or
more improvements or services plans or parts of plans and levy a single
assessment against specially benefited property.

(3)
For
purposes of special assessments levied by a township pursuant to this chapter,
references in Chapter 727. of the Revised Code to the municipal corporation
shall be deemed to refer to the township, and references to the legislative
authority of the municipal corporation shall be deemed to refer to the board of
township trustees.

Church property or
property owned by a political subdivision, including any participating
political subdivision in which a special improvement district is located, shall
be included in and be subject to special assessments made pursuant to a plan
adopted under this section or division (F) of section
1710.02 of the Revised Code, if
the church or political subdivision has specifically requested in writing that
its property be included within the special improvement district and the church
or political subdivision is a member of the district or, in the case of a
district created by an existing qualified nonprofit corporation, if the church
is a member of the corporation.

(D)
All
rights and privileges of property owners who are assessed under Chapter 727. of
the Revised Code shall be granted to property owners assessed under this
chapter, including those rights and privileges specified in sections
727.15 to
727.17 and
727.18 to
727.22 of the Revised Code and the
right to notice of the resolution of necessity and the filing of the estimated
assessment under section
727.13 of the Revised Code.
Property owners assessed for public services under this chapter shall have the
same rights and privileges as property owners assessed for public improvements
under this chapter.